


Year 1- Separated

by secrettimelady



Series: The Miles Family [1]
Category: Knight Rider (1982)
Genre: Boarding School, Childhood Friends, Female Friendship, Gen, Insanity, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Prank Wars, Spies & Secret Agents, Twins, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-06 04:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1843567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secrettimelady/pseuds/secrettimelady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Devon is given the challenge of his life when his brother dies and his brother's wife goes insane because of it. That's right, he has to raise their two children on his own. But that's not all. As it turns out, there's a special school that both children had their names down for from the day they were born. And no, it's not Hogwarts. It's a boarding school in New York called 'Archer Academy' that , unbeknownst to Devon, trains young spies from age 11.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Cecelia heard a dull thud and her mother screaming. Her green eyes shot open and she jumped out of bed, running to her parents' bedroom. The sight would scar her forever. Her father was lying on the ground and he wasn't moving, not even to breathe while her mother was kneeling by him, sobbing. "Dad!" Cecelia cried as she moved next to her mother. "Dad, please, wake up!" She cried as she tried nudging him awake as she had so many times before. Her tears were now flowing openly. "Mom, you have to call 911. You're the only one that saw what happened. I'll wake up Mattie." She said, already getting up to wake her younger brother. "Okay, Cici." Her mother agreed, also getting up. Cici heard her mother calling and she picked her brother up out of his crib. "Cici? What happening?" He asked in his limited vocabulary. "Dad's gone to the moon. He won't be coming back." She said, using the age old lie. "Why he not come back?" Mattie asked. "You know how he sometimes has to work really late?" She asked her brother who nodded. "It's just the job that they're having him do." Cici lied. Mattie nodded, satisfied.

Before long, they were ushered out of the house by police. "Do you know how your father died?" An officer asked Cici while she was holding her brother. "Shh!" She hissed, gesturing to her brother who was only just barely awake. It only took a few minutes more for Mattie to fall asleep. "No, I don't know how my father died. I just woke up when I heard a thud and my mom screaming." Cici explained. The officer nodded and moved away. Cici carried her brother over to where their mother was sitting in the back of an ambulance, an orange shock blanket draped around her shoulders. "Mom? Are you okay?" Cici asked. She didn't get an answer, which surprised her. An ambulance attendant explained that her mother had gone into shock and that she'd be taken somewhere that they could help, but that Cici and Mattie needed someplace else to stay. "Well, there's our uncle, our dad's brother. His name is Devon Miles. But we haven't seen him in a while." Cici said. The ambulance attendant laughed a bit. "That's okay." He said. The two children were taken to an office in police headquarters where they'd stay until their uncle came for them. A man made to call Devon then, but Cici protested. "It's 2 in the morning. He's probably asleep." The agent agreed to call Devon the next morning and the exhausted six year old fell asleep.

The next morning began as any other did for Devon Miles. He got up, got dressed and was about to have breakfast when the phone rang. Puzzled, he answered it. A man on the other end informed him of the tragic death of his younger brother and the need for someone to take care of Cecelia and Matthew. Devon, of course, agreed and it was agreed that he would be in Phoenix to pick the kids up as soon as possible.

Two hours later, he was disembarking the plane and had hailed a taxi to the police headquarters. Devon was directed to an office in the back and saw two children, asleep. The girl, who was 6 if he remembered correctly, had straight blonde hair that fell just past her shoulders and tan skin from playing outside. The boy, who was 3, was just as tan and had the same shade of blonde hair as his sister, though his was much shorter. They were both wearing pajamas that looked very wrinkled. "You're Devon Miles, right?" The police officer in charge asked. In response, Devon nodded. "How long has it been since you've seen these kids?" The officer asked. "It's been four years since I've seen Cecelia and I haven't actually met Matthew." Devon answered. The officer nodded and took this down. He had Devon fill out some paperwork and prove that he really was Devon Miles before Devon could take the kids home.

When they got into the room, Cici was doing a Sudoku puzzle and half humming to her brother who was trying to balance on one foot. Just as he was about to fall, Cici stuck one leg out and caught him. "Aha!" She exclaimed triumphantly. "What, sis?" Mattie asked. "I finished the puzzle." She explained, ruffling the boy's hair. Devon cleared his throat, alerting the children to his presence. "Uncle Devon!" Cici exclaimed, rushing over and throwing her arms around her uncle's legs. He awkwardly patted her back and the officer in charge laughed a bit and muttered something about Devon not knowing what he was getting himself into.

Devon took them to their house where he had them pack a suitcase of clothes and change into clean clothes while they were at it. Not surprisingly, Cici was done first and had to check Mattie's suitcase. She pushed him out of his bedroom and started packing for him. When she came out a few minutes later, Mattie began to balk about not having his special teddy bear, so Cici packed a bag with some things that she knew that she couldn't live without and told Mattie to do the same. After she inspected his bag (she had to remove several sandwiches and some other food) she talked to the neighbor woman about taking care of the house while they were away, because no one knew how long their mother would be in the mental hospital. The neighbor woman agreed and the small group of Miles' went to the airport and LA.

As it turned out, Devon had a large house with plenty of room for raising two relatively young children, even if they were both scarily mature. For the first few weeks, Mattie and Cici shared a room and bed while a more suitable bed was being set up for Mattie. Over the course of the next six months, both bedrooms were transformed from stark, boring bedrooms into places that reflected both children's tastes.

It wasn't long before Devon needed someone to watch the children while he was at work, so he took them over to the mansion of some friends of his. Their mansion was about the same size as Wilton Knight's and they had three children. Twins, the same age as Cici and a girl that was Mattie's age. When he introduced the children, Cici was surprisingly shy, but Rory's outgoing personality and confidence had him, Cici and Rory's twin sister Sage getting on like a house on fire. Mattie, meanwhile, was talking with Melody, the youngest girl, with some trepidation. After all, girls had cooties. It wasn't until 20 minutes later when Cici patiently explained that there were no such things when he finally played happily with Melody.


	2. Can't Cici just have a normal day?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cici's 11th Birthday and her official invitation to Archer Academy.

"Happy Birthday Cici!" Mattie exclaimed as he jumped on his older sister's bed, effectively waking her up. "Five more minutes." The eleven year moaned as she covered her head with her pillow.

It was at that point that Devon came in. "Mattie, leave your sister alone. If she wants to miss out on french toast and sausage, that's her decision." Devon said. It took Cici all of about five seconds to be at the breakfast table where there was, indeed, french toast and sausage waiting.

After breakfast was eaten at a semi-reasonable pace, Cici and Mattie headed up to their rooms to change. Over the past five years, Cici's room had changed from stark white walls and sheets, no wall decorations and a bookshelf full of books that were far too advanced for her (according to Devon) to light blue walls and matching sheets, a desk, several photos of different adventures that Cici and Sage had gone on as well as a few others, lots of quotes that were painted right on the walls courtesy of Cici and the golden paint that could be found sitting on top of the dresser and a bookshelf that held many mysteries and maybe one or two chemistry books. Also, Devon had decided that she needed a full length mirror, so that was standing alone by her door.

She changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a tight fitting t-shirt and then brushed her hair. Cici went downstairs and checked the mail. "Uncle Devon, Uncle Devon, Uncle Devon, wrong address, Uncle Devon, me?" She muttered. It was from an address in New York according to the return address. "Hangleton Academy." She whispered, tracing the coat of arms. It was a rabbit on a shield with the motto "love thy neighbor. She gave the stack of mail to Devon, except the letter from Hangleton Academy. "What is that, Cici?" Devon asked. "I don't know. It just came in the mail. It's addressed to me." Cici answered, looking confused. Devon handed her the letter opener and she slit the letter open, not expecting Mattie to grab the letter from her hand and run back to his bedroom. Mattie closed and locked the door, causing Cici to become very angry. "Matthew Miles, open that door or so help me, I _will_ break it down." She threatened seriously. When the door didn't open, she got onto her toes and looked at her uncle. "A little help here?" She asked him. He reached above her and grabbed what she was trying to. It was a wooden skewer that worked perfectly to unlock the doors in the house. In a matter of seconds, Cici had the door open and had tackled her little brother, preventing him from attempting to hide the envelope.

When Cici took a closer look at the crest, she was able to decipher what the crest meant. It was black and yellow, which meant reliability and generosity while the shape of the shield and the square in the center indicated honor. Even the rabbit meant peace loving. Cici made sure that her brother was in his room and proceeded to tie his door shut.

With that done, Cici took out the main piece of paper. "Ms. Miles, we are pleased to welcome you to Hangleton Academy. While you're here, you will definitely consider us home! When you arrive, you will be given your uniform, dormitory assignment and schedule. If you have any questions, our staff rep is available to call at ***-***-****." Cici read. Devon frowned and asked for the paper, which Cici handed him. While her uncle was looking at the letter, Cici pulled out the brochure. It featured a school building that had the motto 'Love thy neighbor' in the gates. Cici gagged in mild disgust. On the next page there were student pictures, the girls wearing button up white shirts and black and red plaid skirts with a long red bow in place of a tie while the boys wore a white button up shirt with a red tie under a red and black sweater vest with black dress pants.

"Cici, you forgot to mention that your parents had already paid tuition." Devon said, looking at the other pages in the envelope. "So, I'm going, then?" Cici asked. Devon nodded with certainty. "There's no point in wasting eight years of boarding school that's already been paid for. I honestly don't want to think how much it would cost for you to go if your parents hadn't already taken care of it." Devon said. Cici nodded in agreement. "If you look, there's even a private plane that is exclusively for Hangleton Academy students leaving from the San Francisco airport at 6:30 a.m. on September 1st." Cici said, reading from the brochure.


	3. Not your ordinary school

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cici's first few days at school.

On September 1st, Mattie was in tears about the thought of his big sister leaving. "I promise I'll be back for Christmas." Cici promised, bending down to hug her little brother. She straightened and looked at her uncle. "Are you ready to go?" He asked. Cici nodded and looked at Michael and Bonnie who were there to say goodbye as well. She hugged them both and looked very serious. Cici turned to Michael. "I'd better be hearing news of you asking her out before I get back." She said. Before Michael or Bonnie could tell her off, she jumped into the car.

When they arrived at the airport, Cici slapped a hand to her head. "I'm an idiot and a horrible best friend!" She cried. Devon immediately realized the problem. "You forgot to go say goodbye to Sage and Rory, didn't you?" He asked quietly. She nodded and looked to be almost in tears. Unfortunately, it was already 6:00, too late for them to go back. Imagine their surprise, however, when they Sage, Rory and their father Jack O'Neil at the same gate that they were supposed to be at. "Cici!" Sage squealed, throwing her arms around her best friend's neck. "Sage. Need. Air." Cici gasped as her friend accidentally strangled her. Even as Sage let go of Cici's neck, they both began laughing. Jack checked his watch and nearly choked on his coffee. "Jeez! We need to get you kids on the plane!" He said, already taking his daughter's suitcase for her. "Thanks, dad." Sage said as she carried her still gasping friend's suitcase.

They got underway right on time. As it turned out, it was only the three of them on the plane that was actually first class. "So what do you think Hangleton Academy's going to be like?" Cici asked her friends. "I bet the food'll be great." Sage said sarcastically. "Do you mean great or better than cafeteria food? Because if it's edible, it's better than cafeteria food." Rory cracked. All three of them enjoyed a good laugh over that. A flight attendant approached the three of them and handed them a voucher. "What's this?" Sage asked. "It's a voucher for extra credit. We need to know now so the proper adjustments can be made." The flight attendant answered.

The voucher offered extra credit in exchange for a lot of work around the school. Cici shrugged and agreed, as did the twins. "Long hours, little payoff? Sounds like the work my uncle does." She joked as she handed the voucher to the flight attendant. Unseen to the pre-teens, the flight attendant radioed the agreement of all three ahead. There was a lot of scheduling to be done.

When the plane touched down eight hours and three time zones later, resulting in the local time being 5:30 in the evening, the trio was pulled away from the massive throng of students to join seven other students. They were being led by a woman who appeared to be in her early 40's, but her dark brown hair was not close to losing its color. "I'm Julia Halvorsen, the headmistress of Artemis Girl's Academy, the female half of Archer Academy." She introduced. "Um, ma'm. I think you've made a mistake. We were supposed to be going to Hangleton Academy." One of the boys said. It was then that Cici noticed that there were five boys and five girls. "Ah, yes. I apologize for that little bit of trickery, but it was necessary. You see, no one, not even your parents can know what we do here. We train students in the fine art of industrial espionage, all funded by the government. In other words, we train spies." She explained.

She led them to a house on the grounds that was very nice. "Ladies, this is your dorm. Now, take a seat." Headmistress Halvorsen said after she led them through the house and into the dining room. She passed out a contract that all ten students signed after reading carefully. Headmistress Halvorsen looked over them all and smiled, apparently satisfied. She gave the students a tour of the house, assuring the boys that their dorm was identical. On the main floor, there was a living room, kitchen dining room and gym. The second floor had the bedrooms, the bathroom and the private library. In the basement, there was a panic room, weapons testing area (Sage, Rory and Cici were ecstatic), and a _huge_ wardrobe that took up half of the spacious basement.

After the tour of the grounds, they were taken to a room that the headmistress had to slide her ID to get in to. "If you'll recall, your contracts stated that you got surgical eye and ear implants. These are typically only given to students who have graduated, but I know we can expect great things from you ten, and you'll need them. The process is very simple and you'll be walking around in an hour or two." Headmistress Halvorsen said as the students were all injected with a sedative.

Two hours later, all ten students were awake and surprisingly not in pain. The headmistress explained that the eye implants allowed for infa-red and night vision. The ear implant was basically a glorified walkie talkie. By running a finger along their right ear canal, the students could all feel a small bump that was their com-link. "You'll all need to come up with code names for yourselves and memorize them." Headmistress Halvorsen said. She handed the students the uniforms that they had all seen in the brochure. "You can keep these. The actual uniform is a white button up shirt, a black skirt for ladies, black pants for the gentlemen and the red ribbon and tie actually stays the same. Although, there are black coats that have the _actual_ school crest on them. However, you won't be wearing the normal uniform that often. Because you're prefects and defenders of the school, you _all_ get black cargo pants, a black shirt, black shoes and a black head covering. The goal is that once you have the head coverings on, you won't be able to tell who you are." The headmistress explained. "Put the false uniform on so we can take a picture for your false ID. Your parents will likely want to see them." The headmistress ordered. The students all hurried to comply, all of them turning their backs on each other to change.

Once they had all taken pictures, the headmistress gave them all gun holsters and pistols. Actual pistols. "Your patrols are important. Always keep these on you, no matter what you're doing. Normal students have one P.E. class and one class for weapons training. In place of these, you will each be taking two patrols per day. As prefects, you outrank almost everyone in the school, but that doesn't mean that you can go around breaking all the rules yourself. Now, the com-links are all on the same frequency, so if any one prefect requires help, regardless of school, you are excused from class to help. Merely explain to the teacher that it is prefect duties. You will need to elect a leader, and that leader will pick a second in command. However, that can wait until morning. Also, that's in your teams, that is, your genders. Class doesn't start until Monday, after all. Now, run along. Dinner begins in five minutes and that's when Headmaster Jared Alton and I will introduce you as the prefects. The Archer Hall." She called as they began running in the directions of the appointed room.

The ten prefects arrived at the Archer Hall and quickly realized that they were still in the prefect uniform. Also, they were supposed to sit at a table that was smaller than the rest of them, so there was only space for the ten of them. All the tables in the room were round and as a general rule, the boys sat on one half of the room and the girls on the other side. Everyone was chatting eagerly, so Cici decided to take the lead. "Alright, for the most part, we don't even know each other's names or where we're from. I'll start. My name is Cecelia Miles, though everyone calls me Cici, and I'm from San Franciso." She said. Sage went next, her chocolate eyes shining with unheard laughter. "I'm Sage O'Neil and I'm also from San Francisco." She said. After that, a girl with red hair, green eyes, freckles and glasses spoke up. "I'm Nicole Kitsinger, but everyone calls me Nikki, and I'm from Alpena, Michigan." She said. A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes went after Nikki. "I'm Guinevere Harper, but I prefer Gwen, and I'm from Kissimmee, Florida." She introduced. A skinny girl with straight brown hair and brown eyes went next. "I'm Sabrina Albarn and I'm from Chicago. If you don't know what state that's in, you need your brain checked." She said, getting a chuckle from them all. Rory went after that, looking exactly like a male version of his sister with his dark brown hair and chocolate eyes. "I'm Rory O'Neil, Sage's brother, and I'm from San Francisco." He said. A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes went. "I'm Nathan Pitten, but everyone calls me Nate, and I'm from Rapid City, South Dakota." He said. A boy with almost black hair and brown eyes went next. "I'm Harry Jay and I'm from Honolulu, Hawaii." He said. After him went a boy with Mexican roots. "I'm Jack Smith and I'm from New York City." He introduced. After him was a boy with short brown hair and light brown eyes. "I'm Kam Sax and I'm from Washington D.C. and like Sabrina said, if you don't know where that is, you need your brain checked." he said.

Only seconds after Kam had finished, Headmistress Halvorsen and a man who had light brown hair and freckles entered the room and sat at the teacher's table. Immediately, all chatter ceased. "Good evening. I trust that you're all still alive?" Headmistress Halvorsen asked. In response, several students, including all ten prefects waved their hands in a 'so-so' manner. "Alright, first up, to all the first years that don't know what's going on, you've been told that we're actually Archer Academy and all those good things. That's true. During meals, the gals will eat in the Lunar Hall and the guys will eat in the Solar Hall. All you prefects, come up here, would ya?" Headmaster Alton requested. The prefects all went up without a word. "Gals, by the Headmistress." He ordered quietly once they were up there. The girls complied quickly and Headmaster Alton grinned. "These are your prefects. You will obey them without question and understand that they are fully authorized to discipline you. That goes to _all_ students." He said, giving a group of older boys a dirty look, all of whom were pretending to shoot the prefects. When they didn't stop, Rory and Cici pulled out their pistols and trained them directly on the troublemaker's heads. They stopped.

Rather than discipline them as expected, Headmaster Alton just chuckled and told the two that they did well. They were all dismissed to eat as there was a buffet set up. After dinner, they all headed to their dormitories which were absolutely gorgeous. There was a phone in the hall by their bedrooms that had a note taped to it. "All of you can use this to call your families free of charge." Cici read. Sabrina stayed in the hall and called her parents while the others found their bedrooms, identifiable by the luggage inside them.

After about twenty minutes, Cici was told by Sage that it was her turn at the phone, as everyone else had already gone. She dialed the very familiar number and waited while rang. "Hello, Miles residence." A familiar, but unwelcome voice answered. "Ah, hi Megan." Cici greeted dully. "Cici! How's school?" The baby-sitter asked. "Classes don't start until Monday. Would you do me a favor and write down the number that I'm calling from and have my uncle call me when he gets home?" Cici requested. "Sure thing, hon. If you want, you can talk to your brother. I know he'd appreciate it." Megan said. "Yeah, I'd like that." Cici replied. In a few seconds, her little brother was on the line. "Cici!" He exclaimed. "That's right, little brother." Cici said quietly. "What's boarding school like? Did you make lots of friends? Is the food okay? What's your room like?" Mattie asked in quick succession. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down! To answer your questions, it's strange to not be at home, I made a few, yes and it's really plain at the moment." Cici answered. Mattie was about to say something, but was cut off. "I'm talking to Cici. Do you want a turn?" Mattie asked. "Cici?" Devon asked. "Hi, Uncle Devon." She said. "How is it in New York?" Devon asked his niece. "It's great. I'm a prefect already." Cici said. "Congratulations! How on earth did you manage that?" Devon asked. "I volunteered." Cici said honestly. "You volunteered and they made you a prefect?" Devon asked. " _Yes._ They have my records on file, they probably looked at past performances." Cici explained. "Alright, love. Now, I have to go. _Someone_ has to feed the ravenous beast that is your little brother." Devon joked. "Of course, Uncle Devon. Would you mind feeding my fish while I'm gone? I'd ask Mattie to do it, but he'd be more likely to try to go fishing in the bowl." Cici said. "Not a problem, Cici. I'll talk to you later. I love you." Devon said. "I love you too." Cici said as she hung up the phone.

"Aww." Sage crowed as she watched her friend. "Shut up, Sage." Cici muttered as she walked past Sage to get to her bedroom. "Hold on, Cici! What's your problem?" Sage asked. "Honestly, it mostly bothers me that Uncle Devon still hires Megan after everything I told him about her." Cici said. "Like how she'd leave in the middle of her shift and then would get back just before your uncle did?" Sage asked. Cici nodded irritably. "Well, there's gotta be something we can do." Sage said. "There's nothing that we can do from here. Even if I had Mattie tell him, Uncle Devon would just think that I told him to." Cici said. "Maybe we'll come up with something tomorrow. In the meantime, we should probably get to bed. I'm sure that at least someone will want to go to the chapel tomorrow morning." Sage said. Cici yawned and agreed.

As it turned out, none of the prefects went to church, so they all slept in and happened to miss breakfast. Cici woke around 9:30, half an hour after breakfast ended. She got up and proceeded to make waffles for everyone, including the boys. Cici ran them over to the boys who were very grateful for the breakfast. "That's one way to wake up." Nikki mumbled, mouth half full of food. "We still need to vote on a leader." Cici said. "I vote for Cici." Sage said. "Cici." Nikki agreed. "Definitely." Gwen said. Sabrina raised her glass of orange juice in agreement. "Well, it looks like I've been outvoted." Cici said. "Who were you going to vote for?" Sabrina asked. "Probably Sage. Speaking of, you're my second." Cici said, pointing to Sage. "Okay." Sage agreed. "Guys! I figured out our codenames." Gwen exclaimed. "What are they?" Sage asked. "Alright, Sage is Rose, Cici is Iris, Nikki is Lily, I'm Violet and Sabrina is Carnation." She said. The girls shrugged and agreed.

A knock at the door brought them from their thoughts. Sage hurried to get it and let the Headmistress in. "Here are your schedules. I would have given them to you at breakfast, but you weren't there." Headmistress Halvorsen scolded. "We've figured out a leader and codenames, ma'm." Gwen said. The Headmistress looked intrigued. "Cici is the leader and Sage is her second." Gwen said, then explained the codenames. "Interesting. Remember, ladies. I want to hear that you're studying hard." The Headmistress said.

The next day, Cici was up first, so she went about waking the others. With an air horn. "You. Are. EVIL!!!!!" Sage shouted. "I ought to have you fired." Nikki muttered, still only half awake. "Too early." Sabrina muttered. "Good morning guys! How did you sleep?" Gwen asked perkily, turning four identical glares on her. "What? I'm just being polite." She muttered.

It wasn't until their foreign language class that anything interesting happened. "Ah, so we have all but two of the prefects in this class. They had better be on patrol." Madame Boris, the teacher muttered. It was then that the prefect's radios crackled to life. "Requesting urgent back up!" Nikki's frightened voice came. The prefects stood in unison. "Prefect business." Cici said as she drew back her gun's slide. Ignoring Mdme. Boris' protests, they went in single file to where Nikki had broadcast from. The fairly small girl was being held at gunpoint.


	4. The First Emergency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The conclusion of the last chapter.

All the prefects had their guns trained on the mystery attacker. "This is Iris requesting a lock down of the school and back up in the garden." Cici spoke into the com link. "Aw, what a shame. There was a chance that your little friend would live. Now, though..." The gunman dug his gun harder into Nikki's skull. "Wait! I'm the leader. If you're going to kill any one of us, it had better be me." Cici said bravely. The gunman gave a little snarl and shoved Nikki forward, grabbing Cici while he was at it. None of the prefects trusted their marksman skills enough to not hit Cici, so all they could do was keep their guns trained on them both. "Hey, Rose? Seeing as it's quite likely that I'm going to die here, I'm putting you in charge of coming up with a creative lie to explain the circumstances of my death to my uncle and brother. Okay?" Cici asked, wincing when the gun was shoved even harder against her skull.

It was at that moment that help arrived in the form of all of the teachers. Two shots rang out. One hit the intruder in the stomach, forcing him to lose consciousness.. Cici felt a sharp, searing pain in her side before losing consciousness.

"Iris!" Sage shouted, knees hitting the ground as she tried to cradle her best friend. Someone tried pulling her away, but Sage held on desperately, not caring that her clothes were being stained with blood. Cici's blood. She realized that her brother was beside her, trying to keep pressure on the heavily bleeding wound in Cici's side. Eventually, Sage was dragged away by her brother, while Cici was being picked up and taken away by the teachers. "Sage! Snap out of it!" Rory said, eventually slapping her to get her to think straight. "You have to remember that Cici was my best friend, too." Her brother reminded her quietly. Sage looked down, ashamed. "I know. I'm sorry, Rory." Sage apologized. "Now, I think you need to go talk to Nikki. She's over there blaming herself for what happened when it wasn't her fault and we _both_ know it." Rory said. Sage got up and walked over to where Nikki was gripping her gun so tightly that her fingers were white.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault." Sage said quietly. "Yes, it was. If I had been paying attention, I wouldn't have been taken by surprise. I'm not fit to be a prefect." Nikki said, throwing her gun onto the chair. "Of course you are! Now, I don't know about you, but the shooter is available for interrogation and I for one want to have a shot at this scum of the earth that shot our friend." Sage said, pulling Nikki in the direction of the door. All the others, who had been milling anxiously around in the girl's dormitory, stood up. "We're coming with. He shot Cici. We're a team. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. We're all going. Besides, I know how to mess with morphine dosage." Kam said. Sage nodded and they all headed toward the detention block.

Not surprisingly, they were let in. When they reached the man's room, Sage checked to make sure that he was asleep before allowing Kam to work his magic on the morphine drip. It only took five minutes for him to be fully awake. Sabrina smirked and closed the door. This was going to be a very loud process.


	5. Visitors in the Hospital

Cici came to feeling very disconnected from the world. It was as though she was merely an observer. And then someone lowered the morphine dosage a little and it felt like her entire side was on fire. "Why would you do that?! Isn't it obvious that she's in pain?!" Sage hissed. "We don't want her getting addicted. Besides, she's waking up now." A nurse said. "Cici? I ate your cookies." Sage said. "You _what_?!" Cici demanded. "Yeah, she's awake. I promise, I didn't actually eat your cookies." Sage said, holding out a plastic bag of the cookies that were from lunch. "Cookies!" Cici exclaimed. "The wound was actually very minor. It'll be completely healed up in a few weeks. In the meantime, we informed your uncle that the school is undergoing renovations and you were hit in the side with a small chunk of metal that fell. You're actually at the local hospital because we figured that your uncle would want to visit you. We were right." The nurse said.

It was only a few hours later that Devon arrived, Mattie in tow. He was surprised to find a young man that he didn't know sitting in front of the door to Cici's room. He had short brown hair and light brown eyes that promised trouble if you messed with him. "Who are you?" He asked. "Devon Miles and Matthew Miles." Devon said. "You got proof?" He asked. Before Devon could tell him off, Rory appeared and did it for him. "I'm sorry, Devon, Mattie. Just go right in. All of us prefects are really protective of her." Rory explained. Devon and Mattie went in and were surprised to find even more students in the room. "Alright, everyone out. Consider that an order." Cici said, green eyes sparkling. All seven students stood rigidly and saluted. "Yes Ma'm!" They chanted, then they all laughed.

Once they had all filed out of the room and even left a few vacated chairs, Devon got a good look at Cici. She seemed much more tired than normal, and she gave off an air of fragility. "Is there a reason that you're giving them orders?" Devon asked. "Technically, I'm their commanding officer. We took a vote. I was outvoted." Cici said. "You elected a leader and you were outvoted?" Devon asked. "Yes. I was going to vote for Sage, but the other four girls voted for me." Cici said, shrugging. Without warning, she hurled a shoe at the door and a loud "OW!" was heard. "Try harder!" Cici called through the door.

"I could hear them giggling." Cici said in response to Devon's questioning look. "Well, Michael and KITT will be here tomorrow. They're actually on a case in the area." Devon explained as Mattie started yawning. " I know a rugrat that needs to get to bed." Cici said. Mattie climbed onto Cici's bed and buried his face in her side. "I don't wanna leave you Sis." He mumbled. "Come on, Mattie. Cici's right, you do need sleep and I don't want you missing any more school than is necessary." Devon said. Unfortunately, Mattie still refused to move. Headmaster Alton entered the room and took a look at Mattie. "I see a future student." He sang. "You mean I could go to the same school as my big sister?" Mattie asked excitedly. "Well, one quality that we value is obedience. That means if a teacher, your uncle, your sister or an adult tells you to do something, you do it without question." The Headmaster said. Mattie quickly climbed off of Cici's bed and stood next to Devon. "I'm ready to go whenever you are." He said. As they left, Devon mouthed 'thank you' to the Headmaster. "Cute kid." He said to Cici. "Thanks. I get the feeling that what you just said will help a lot. Were you serious about him coming here?" Cici asked. "Yes I was. His name's been down since he was born, as was yours." He answered. "Of course it was." Cici muttered.

True to Devon's word it wasn't until the next day that Michael and KITT showed up. "How are ya feeling, Kiddo?" Michael asked. Cici shrugged. "It feels like my entire right side is being slowly roasted over an open fire because they lowered the morphine dosage to keep me from getting addicted." Cici said. Michael winced slightly. "Yeah, that sounds like it hurts. I brought chocolate." Michael said. Cici thanked him for the gift and he lowered himself into one of the chairs. "These were not made for people my size." Michael muttered, causing Cici to outright laugh. "So who were those people?" Michael asked. "Oh, they're the other prefects. There are a grand total of 10 of us." Cici said. Michael smiled. "So the school's okay, then? The food's not poisonous or anything?" Michael asked. "Yeah, the food's great. All the people are, too. I really do like it here." Cici said. Michael smiled again. "Well, I'm glad to see that you're okay." Michael said. "As am I. I know that we were all very worried Cecelia." KITT said. "KITT, how many times do I have to tell you? It's just Cici." Cici said laughingly.


	6. Halloween Night

As it turned out, each student was in a boy-girl pair. Cici was with Rory, Sage with Mickey, Nikki with Harry, Gwen with Nathan and Sabrina was with Kam. Their schedules were identical, down to the patrols. For the last hour of the day, Sabrina and Kam were patrolling while the rest of them were in class. The 8 students got out of class and the other 2 got done with patrols and they all headed to the Archer Hall. During normal meals, they ate in their separate halls, but on special occasion such as holidays, end or beginning of term and other things like that, they ate in the Archer Hall.

They sat at the table that had long since become known as the 'prefect table' and talked about the day. "Hey, Cici, what's wrong?" Harry asked. "Nothing." Cici said quickly. "No, Harry's right. What's wrong?" Rory asked. Cici sighed. "Well, I got a call from my little brother last night. Our uncle has to keep our friend from doing something stupid at the annual Halloween party, so he hired the stupid babysitter again. Ordinarily, that's not a problem, but our babysitter will watch my brother for about five minutes, leave, and get back five minutes before our uncle does." Cici said. "Well that's dumb. Why didn't you tell your uncle?" Nikki asked. "I tried to. He talked to Megan and she denied the whole thing and then made up some lie about me doing something that I wasn't supposed to. I got grounded for a _month_ because of that." Cici said. "Why doesn't your brother say something?" Kam asked. "Because he likes her. Every time before she leaves she gives him a piece of candy. The easiest way ever to earn the affection of an eight year old." Cici answered. "Well, I have an idea. Does your library have a computer?" Mickey asked. When Cici nodded he grinned.

The ten students were in the girls library and they watched silently as Rory, the best at computer skills in the group, got the computer going. "Alright, does she have a pocket pager or anything like that?" Rory asked. Cici shook her head, but then she jumped up. "Let's see, it's 10:00 here, so it's 7:00 there. My brother said that Megan and her boyfriend were going out to Red Lobster for dinner tonight. They had reservations for 7:15." Cici said. "I can get into the CCTV cameras in the area." Rory said as he typed some commands into the computer. "Is that them?" Rory asked, pointing to a couple that was walking to the restaurant. When Cici nodded he thought for a moment. "When is the party over?" Rory asked. "Well, it's normally over by 8:00, but my uncle normally likes to stay and talk to people and it's about a 15 minute drive to get back to our house from where he works. So, he'll be home at around 8:30." Cici concluded. "Alright, so we have two options. We can delay Megan or make your uncle get home early." Rory said. "I think it'd be easier to delay Megan. I know that her boyfriend uses a credit card, so we can delay that going through." Cici said. Rory nodded and managed to get a hold of Megan's boyfriend's credit card information. After that, all that was left to do was to watch as the couple finished their meal and try to pay. As soon as they received the check, Rory started hacking. The others kept an eye on the clock. Mickey had gone back to their dorm and was keeping an eye on Mattie and was communicating through the com-links. "How long of a drive is it from Red Lobster to your house?" Kam asked. "It's about a 20 minute drive." Cici answered. "It's 8:25 there." Kam said. All of the students gave a cheer. "Rory, you can stop, now. We're going over to your dorm to watch the fireworks. You coming?" Cici asked. Rory nodded and closed out what he was doing on the computer. The 9 of them ran to the boys dorm where Mickey was waiting.

All he had managed to do was get into the camera on the other side of the street, but it was enough. They watched as Devon's car pulled up into the driveway, with a certain lack of Megan in sight. The students smirked, happy that their efforts had actually gotten something done. The girls went back to their own dorm where there was homework waiting for them.

As they were all working on it in their own rooms, the phone rang. Sage, her room being closest, answered it. "Oh, hey, Devon. If you give me a minute, I'll get Cici." Sage said as she put the phone down. She knocked on her friend's door and Cici opened it, seeming somewhat irritated by the interruption. "Your uncle's on the phone." Sage said, causing Cici to run out to where the phone was.

"Hey, Uncle Devon. What's up?" She asked, pretending to be confused by the call. "I'd like to apologize. You were absolutely right about Megan and I completely fell for her act." Devon said sincerely. "Well, to be fair, you had the word of a mischievous 10 year old, or the word of the sixteen year old. It's really no surprise whose word you decided to go on." Cici said, having forgiven her uncle for that only a month after said incident. "Even so, I should have trusted you more." Devon said. "Life is full of could-haves, would-haves and should-haves, but there's not a thing that we can do about them." Cici said wisely. Devon made a noise of agreement and a scuffling could be heard from the other end. "Hi sis!" Mattie said happily, evidently having grabbed the phone from his uncle. "Did you ask Uncle Devon if you could use that?" Cici asked. "Um, no." Mattie muttered ashamedly. "Apologize and ask. Politely." Cici reprimanded. She heard her little brother mutter an apology and she frowned. "Say it louder." She commanded. Her brother sighed, but did as he was told. "Good. Now, aren't you supposed to be getting ready for bed?" She asked. "But you're not in bed." Mattie whined. "Yes, but I also have homework and other things that I need to do before I go to bed." Cici said calmly. When she heard nothing from the other end, she sighed. "Bed. Now." She ordered.

After a few minutes, her uncle came back on the line. "How do you get him to listen to you?" Devon asked exasperatedly. Cici repressed the urge to tell her uncle that the reason that Mattie listened to her more than he did to him was that she had always been there while her uncle had not. Devon was never really there for the two children, and even when he was, he was too busy with work or something other than taking care of the two children who lived under his roof. The last time that he had actually talked to either of them was that day when he took them from Phoenix and to his home in San Francisco, and that was five years prior. Of course, she understood that Devon was naturally a very busy man and she respected it and chose not to let it bother her. She merely accepted that she had to grow up quickly, so Mattie didn't have to. Mattie, on the other hand, simply didn't grow up, and that was something that Cici knew that was something that she had to change. She had always tried to teach her little brother to be respectful, but it seemed to her that she had failed. "I think that he likes me better." Cici quipped. "Yes, I do believe that he does." Devon agreed.


	7. Going Home for Thanksgiving

It was the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and the students were all leaving for the week the next day. "I think that you guys have the longest flight back. I mean, you guys live on the other side of the country." Nikki pointed out. "Ugh, don't remind me. It's bad enough that we have enough homework to heat a small house for a year." Cici said, referring to the homework that Madame Boris had piled on the students. "Yeah, Madame Boris is kind of evil." Sage piped up. "I'm going to bed. I'm going to have to pack up my pajamas tomorrow morning. Headmistress Halvorsen told us to wear our fake uniforms back and leave our real and normal uniforms here." Cici reminded the group.

The next morning, the group's custom alarm clock, AKA Gwen, woke them up at 9:00, which meant that they had to prepare their own breakfast. Cici put on the long socks, the skirt, the shirt and the ribbon before reluctantly putting on the dress shoes. She felt so incredibly out of place in them. "Ugh, I hate skirts. Why were skirts even invented? Whoever invented skirts needs to be dug up, shot and then buried again." She muttered. She took her suitcase down the stairs and set it with the other girls' bags. "Are you guys ready to go?" She asked her peers as she entered the kitchen. She was pleased to see that they were all in the false uniform. "Unfortunately, no." Nikki said. "Well, the planes leave at 10:00, so we need to eat quick and be there ASAP." Sage said.

By the time they had finished, it was five minutes to ten. "Quickly, run!" Cici called to her peers. Just as the doors closed, the girls got onto their planes. "Running a little late, aren't you?" Rory asked calmly, looking up from his book. "Oh, hush, Rory." Sage said as Cici pulled out her homework. "Doing homework now?" Rory asked. "Yeah, I don't want it hanging over my head." Cici replied.

When they got to the airport, it was about 3:00 in San Francisco. Cici got off the plane and was unsurprised to see that Devon wasn't there. Instead, Sage and Rory's parents, Jack and Clara O'Neil, were there along with Melody and Mattie. "Oh! You guys look so cute in your uniforms!" Mrs. O'Neil gushed as she embraced the three students. "Hi, Mom." Sage and Rory said in unison. "Oh, I know that it's not 'cool' to enjoy hugs from your mom, but you could at least try!" She exclaimed. "Oh, and Cici, your uncle told us to bring you two over to FLAG so that he could see you, and then you're coming home with us for dinner." Mr. O'Neil told Cici, who nodded. The car ride to FLAG was silent. One thing that Cici loved about the O'Neils was that they didn't flaunt their wealth. They always drove themselves places rather than have a chauffeur and when they had to drive the five kids around, they drove a full sized van rather than a limo.

They arrived at FLAG fairly quickly and the O'Neils said that they'd wait right outside. Cici grasped her brother's hand and led him into the familiar building. On their way in, they ran into Michael. "Hey, Cici. Are you wearing a skirt?" He asked, looking the girl over. "Yes, I am. Unfortunately." Cici said, earning a grin from Michael. "Go on in. Devon won't admit it, bet he _is_ looking forward to seeing you." Michael said with a grin. Cici smiled back and entered the familiar office, her younger brother in tow.

Devon looked up from the paperwork he was doing when he heard the children enter the room. He capped his pen and set it aside in favor of standing. Devon took a quick look at Mattie, ensuring that he was unharmed before he turned his attention to Cici. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a braid and she wore the uniform that he had seen in the pamphlet. He knelt down and retied the lopsided ribbon. Cici flushed lightly, evidently not having realized that the ribbon was mussed at all. Devon smiled at them both. "Welcome home." Devon said warmly. "It's good to be home." Cici said sincerely. Devon nodded in satisfaction. "Now, let me guess, there's homework for you to do over the holidays." Devon said. Cici hung her head. "Sadly." She sighed. Devon smirked and ruffled the girl's hair. "Now, you and your brother run along. Jack and Clara will drop you two off at home after dinner, and I want you in bed by the time that I get home." Devon said sternly, his lips quirking up into a smile when Cici tried to smooth her hair.

Dinner was spaghetti, a dish that everyone at the table enjoyed. "Alright, Cici, Mattie, are you ready to go home?" Mr. O'Neil asked. When the siblings nodded, he clapped his hands happily. "Alright, then! Let's get you two home! And through the rain we go!" He exclaimed with a grin. Because it was, indeed, raining. In fact, it was pouring buckets. The ride to the house that Devon owned wasn't very long at all, about 20 minutes by car, so they arrived there fairly quickly. "Do you need me to let you in?" Mr. O'Neil asked worriedly. Cici grinned and held up the key she always wore around her neck. Also around her neck was a single dog tag that belonged to her father. Mattie had the other one and he wore it around his neck. Cici quickly grabbed her bag from the back, opened the sliding door, grinned at her brother and waved goodbye to Mr. O'Neil.

As they were heading in through the rain, Cici heard a small whining sound. She had Mattie go inside while she investigated. She managed to track the whining to a bush near the front door, where she found a small German Shepherd puppy. She cradled the poor thing to her chest as she took in the state of the poor dog. She could see the little guy's ribs and there were cuts on his flank that were matted with a sad combination of fur and blood. There was no collar and Cici made a quick decision. She carried him inside the house and took the dog right into the bathroom where she filled the sink with warm water. She took a clean washcloth and dipped it into the water, using it to clean out the dog's wounds. When she had finished that, she put the dog into the warm water. She washed away the grime and filth that clung to the poor pup.

Cici was just wrapping the puppy in a towel when Devon got home. "Cici..." He started. "Uncle Devon, he doesn't have a home. He's not wearing a collar, you can see his ribs and there's a lot of cuts. He's clearly been living rough for a while." Cici pointed out. "Alright, but there will be rules. Obviously, you can't take care of him while you're at school, so while you're away, I'll take care of him. However, when you're here, I expect you to take care of him. He stays off of the couch and out of my bedroom and study." Devon said firmly. Cici and the dog yawned in sync and Devon couldn't help but chuckle. "How about you go to bed." Devon recommended. "Okay. I think I'll call him Alpha, the first letter in the Greek alphabet." Cici said tiredly as she shuffled toward her room. When Devon looked in on them later that night, Alpha was sleeping nuzzled up to Cici's chest while Cici had an arm around the small dog.

The next day, Cici woke up wondering why there was something small and warm nuzzled up to her until she remembered the events of the night prior. She smiled as she untangled herself from the covers while trying not to wake the canine. It didn't work at all, so he sprung up, happy as could be. Cici went downstairs to where her uncle and brother were waiting at the table. "I thought for sure that I'd have to send your brother in to wake you up." Devon said, slightly surprised. "It's not that early, is it?" Cici asked. She looked at the clock hanging over the kitchen sink and was surprised to see that it read 8:30. "Okay, I stand corrected." Cici said, surprised. "Why are you up so early, Sis?" Mattie asked curiously. "I guess I just got used to New York time." Cici explained.

**Author's Note:**

> All right, guys. This is my first fic on here, so I'm actually semi-nervous. Comments and constructive criticism are welcome and appreciated, but flames will be used to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. P.S. Thank you for reading this far.


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